There's no chicken in Kiev
Its been two days since you've heard from your favorite travelling epidemiologists. H-girl and P-girl arrived in Kiev yesterday. The flight was mercifully short (1.5 hours) and passport control brief. A stocky, Ukranian customs officer tried to hold up H-girl by asking her to declare her money. When H-girl said, "I only have 10 euros," the guard rolled her eyes and sent her on her way.
The pair were picked up by Yuri, a driver for the World Bank with a sister in Brooklyn (you know how talkative H-girl is). Yuri gave an effective tour in slightly stilted English, but who can complain when you don't speak Ukrainian or Russian? There was snow on the ground, which had been there for weeks. It was a bit slushy as the women had come just as the Spring thaw was beginning (Yuri said it would be green next week).
The pair arrived at P-girl's friends' house: K & J and their children Lord of the Rings (LoR) and Crunch Baby (CB). The apartment is beautiful: high ceilings, beautiful wood floors, and eclectic and warm decor from the couple's many travels.
After a yummy lunch, K, H-girl and P-girl packed up the children and headed out for a walk. They walked down the street, past fashionable shops touting -70% and over to Independence Square (maydan Nezalazhnosti), ground zero for the Orange Revolution. Its pretty amazing that less than 2 years ago, there was a major change in Ukraine's government. Wonder if we could make that happen in the US.
They picked up some nappies and headed back to the apartment. When J came home, he made an amzing dinner of lamb and couscous and they opened a couple of bottles of Moldovian wine (surprisingly good wine).
With a good night's sleep, H-girl and P-girl spent the next day looking at Orthodox churches and shopping on Andriyivsky urviz (st. andrews descent). there were tens of little souvenir stalls selling everything from nested babushka dolls (and bush, osama, and US fottball team dolls), tee-shirts, laquer barettes, horn barettes, lambs wool or rabbit fur heats, and antique cameras to beads, jewelry, paineted cutting boards and postcards.
Tomorrow, the girls will help the family prepare for a dinner party. The girls have suggested that they make chicken curry, but since there has already been bird flu detected in Ukraine and some of the dinner guests are people from WHO and World Bank working on bird flu, their host suggested that alternative protein sources might be more appropriate. Although, to be fair, J was amused by the irony.
Later on in the week they will head to the Caves Monastery and Chernobyl museum.
The pair were picked up by Yuri, a driver for the World Bank with a sister in Brooklyn (you know how talkative H-girl is). Yuri gave an effective tour in slightly stilted English, but who can complain when you don't speak Ukrainian or Russian? There was snow on the ground, which had been there for weeks. It was a bit slushy as the women had come just as the Spring thaw was beginning (Yuri said it would be green next week).
The pair arrived at P-girl's friends' house: K & J and their children Lord of the Rings (LoR) and Crunch Baby (CB). The apartment is beautiful: high ceilings, beautiful wood floors, and eclectic and warm decor from the couple's many travels.
After a yummy lunch, K, H-girl and P-girl packed up the children and headed out for a walk. They walked down the street, past fashionable shops touting -70% and over to Independence Square (maydan Nezalazhnosti), ground zero for the Orange Revolution. Its pretty amazing that less than 2 years ago, there was a major change in Ukraine's government. Wonder if we could make that happen in the US.
They picked up some nappies and headed back to the apartment. When J came home, he made an amzing dinner of lamb and couscous and they opened a couple of bottles of Moldovian wine (surprisingly good wine).
With a good night's sleep, H-girl and P-girl spent the next day looking at Orthodox churches and shopping on Andriyivsky urviz (st. andrews descent). there were tens of little souvenir stalls selling everything from nested babushka dolls (and bush, osama, and US fottball team dolls), tee-shirts, laquer barettes, horn barettes, lambs wool or rabbit fur heats, and antique cameras to beads, jewelry, paineted cutting boards and postcards.
Tomorrow, the girls will help the family prepare for a dinner party. The girls have suggested that they make chicken curry, but since there has already been bird flu detected in Ukraine and some of the dinner guests are people from WHO and World Bank working on bird flu, their host suggested that alternative protein sources might be more appropriate. Although, to be fair, J was amused by the irony.
Later on in the week they will head to the Caves Monastery and Chernobyl museum.
posted by Helminth Girl and company at
4:58 PM
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